Hi there!Sorry for the topic title, it's more like tags now rather than a title... anyways

Let me quickly explain my situation:I'm 21 y/o, male, and have been 'battling' acne ever since the age of 14. So far the story like everyone else, tried BP, cleansing, topicals, and so on. None of it helped much though.So I started looking for other solutions, and one factor (obviously) was food. First I cut sugar as much as possible, later I went on a low-glycemic-index diet, and currently I'm sticking (as much as possible) to an anti-inflammatory diet.

Though diet seems to help, the only real solution I've found so far is total abstinence though. Last semester (4/5 months) I managed to not masturbate at all. Results were shocking. I've got some tagged FB photos, and not a single blemish is visible. However, in winter break I got bored, I though maybe I 'grew out' of my acne, so I helped myself 4 times in a single week (no more no less). (This was some 11 weeks ago now)Of course this was the worst decision/mistake ever, it gave me huge, and i mean HUGE (1 to 2 cm in diameter) (cystic?) acne, especially on my forehead. The type of acne I hadn't had before, because this time it wasn't just a pimple, but they were soft or something. Loads and loads of puss they contained. If it came to a head I would sometimes needle and drain them, with mixed results.

So ever since I didn't touch myself again, and the acne has been slowly fading away.

Anyway,Even though I can live w/o masturbation rather well now, my mirror-image resulted in a big self-esteem drop. So I went to my GP+dermatologist and asked for accutane, and they gave me.

At the moment I'm one month in on my accutane course, 40mg/day (BW=83kg). Side effects are bearable so far. My big puss-filled pimples are gone. However I've still got some fairly big pimples remaining (one 1cm one 0.6 cm) that are hard and stubborn. Of course I've also got PIH (never had that before).

In short, what I want to say is this. I stopped masturbating. I believe that's the reason my acne has been clearing up. At the same time I started taking accutane. I don't know to what extent this helps/prevents my clearing up.To get rid of my current acne fast, I've taken some NSAIDS (ibuprofen 400mg) the last 2 weeks.

My question is, should I continue taking these NSAIDs? As I said, I've still got (fairly big) pimples, but they don't contain puss anymore, they are 'hard', can ibuprofen help clear these things? I don't like taking medication I don't need, I don't wanna overload my liver/kidneys and such...

Thanks for reading and any help or advise is really much appreciated

Oh and by the way, since I stopped helping myself, I didn't get any (serious) new pimples. Maybe a couple of small ones, but nothing near cystic or whatever. All (99%) of my acne now is remainings of my 'sin-period'

In short, what I want to say is this. I stopped masturbating. I believe that's the reason my acne has been clearing up. At the same time I started taking accutane. I don't know to what extent this helps/prevents my clearing up.

So let me get this straight. At the same time you stopped masturbating, you also started taking the most powerful drug for acne treatment there is. Then your acne cleared up, and now you think that your anti-masturbating policy may have been the reason for your acne clearing up?

...

I'm not convinced.

Even if you chopped off both my hands, I would still manage to find a way to masturbate.

NSAIDs don't help acne a lot - at least not any more than a topical disinfectant or anti-inflammatory ("Polysporin," for instance) would. Depending on how much ibuprofen you're taking (400mg/day, or 400mg/pill), and the duration of consistent dosing, you might end up doing more harm than good.

The subject of masturbation and acne is a very controversial one. As thefloydfan pointed out, you can't consider your results valid at this time: there are two incredibly conflicting variables that render your improvement liable to either "treatment."

Haul out your course of Accutane, and then, if your acne comes back, you can continue to experiment with "abstinence."

Edited by nomit, 11 March 2012 - 12:11 AM.

"Now I've done it. There's urine everywhere."

Just another loud-mouthed prevaricator. The Kardashians are real, relatable, educated, and hard-working.

I went 3 months (October-December 2011) without any sex/masturbation, and Accutane seemed to have been doing it's job, with a reduction from 4 new acne formations a day to 1 or none. In the beginning of January I had sex, and the medication wasn't in control anymore. I was interested, so I masturbated once a week for a month, and the acne remained bad. I abstained after, and things slowed down. Obviously it isn't a fact, but for people like me it's zero sexual arousal or acne.

Well I didn't want to dig up the acne-masturbation discussion here, I merely tried to explain my case. Since you're asking however: I've stopped masturbating at times in the past few years, but not for really long periods. Maybe a week or 2 max. At the end of those periods I consistently noticed a halt as for new pimples, and the existing ones would decrease in size, etc.
Therefore, at one moment I decided to abstain for a longer period (=last semester). I told there's photos of my face. Not 100% acne free, but really really clear nonetheless.
Then came the winter break, I got bored, and 'results' were immediately visible. After this one week I decided to abstain again and I went to my GP/dermatologist, got accutane prescribed etc. My IB was not too bad. I got a bunch of new pimples, but they were really small, compared to the huge ones I got from before.
This means, together with my 2nd abstinence, I also started accutane. I haven't got the idea that it's being effective so far (1 month in). I got side-effects of course, but as far as I can tell I'm undergoing the same healing process as in my first abstination period (I mean as for healing-speed etc).
Maybe masturbation/abstination has no influence on you, maybe it has no influence on most people here; but for me it has, no doubt.

My question came down to this. Whether due to accutane or abstinance, fact is that I'm hardly getting any new pimples now. This means I want to get rid of the existing ones ASAP. I think my skin will remain fairly clear if that happens; irregardless of positive/negative accutane impact.
So I wanted to know if it was advisable to take nsaids (ibuprofen) to speed up this healing process. I won't take it for months, I just need to get rid of the current mountainscape I understand that these medicines can be useful if there are inflammations, but since most of the huge swelling is gone now (just two really big ones now, without water/puss though) I don't know if they're useful for 'ordinary' acne as well.

Ibuprofen inhibits cyclooxygenase, an enzyme responsible for (through a chain of metabolism) inciting inflammation. While this function is great in arthritis and other chronic-inflammatory conditions, acne vulgaris has a rather murky pathology. Though you're unlikely to cause any extensive damage using ibuprofen, I can't really recommend it. Ibuprofen does not speed healing. Isotretinoin, an incredibly potent medicine, will "heal" your active lesions; not an OTC NSAID, especially in such minute quantities (though you should never take more than 1600mg of ibuprofen in a given dosing).

You might ask your practitioner for a month's worth of topical clindamycin; antibiotics can mitigate the impact an initial breakout has, as well as clear existing lesions at a more rapid pace than isotretinoin.

If you're still unconvinced, a word with your doctor/dermatologist can clear up any concerns; they might recommend ibuprofen, or recommend against it.

Edited by nomit, 11 March 2012 - 10:50 AM.

"Now I've done it. There's urine everywhere."

Just another loud-mouthed prevaricator. The Kardashians are real, relatable, educated, and hard-working.